Leicester in top 10 for on-campus wi-fi

Leicester is a top 10 UK university for on-campus wi-fi according to data compiled by StudentCrowd, an online review community for students. The data has been collated from thousands of StudentCrowd reviews for Jisc, manager of the of the eduroam network within the UK, which serves more than 95% of higher education institutions.

StudentCrowd asks reviewers to rate universities on criteria including campus facilities, students union and wi-fi. The data, based on 7,348 student reviews, placed Leicester 10th.

Wi-fi access has become an essential for many people and students are no exception. Research published earlier this year by facilities management company Sodexo found that wi-fi is of the highest importance to this generation of students, with 79% of UK students considering it the most important service in their university environment.

Jisc’s own Student Digital Experience Tracker, which surveys 8,000 students, also emphasise the importance of connectivity and digital tools. The data reveals that 97% of HE learners find information online on a weekly basis during their course.

Dr Ross Parry, Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Digital), said: “At Leicester we are building a ‘Digital Campus’. This means designing and delivering a new digital learning environment, embedding a new Digital Literacy Framework across all we do, and putting in place the digital tools needed for modern, transformational research and scholarship. But to make all of this work, and thrive, we need a great infrastructure. And that includes rich, reliable wi-fi for everyone. With that in place – used and valued by students and staff alike - we can then connect people, objects, data and systems, and start seeing the University as an extraordinary digital platform.”